PDA

View Full Version : Academy: Diversity strong despite rule change



thedrifter
05-12-07, 05:52 PM
Academy: Diversity strong despite rule change
By Robert Weller - The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday May 12, 2007 9:44:16 EDT

DENVER — The Air Force Academy is in no danger of losing its ability to recruit minority candidates to its prep school, despite the possible deletion of legal language making that a priority, the Pentagon said Friday.

Marine Maj. Stewart Upton, a Defense Department spokesman, said the deletion was being considered at the request of the Air Force’s legal counsel to conform to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2003 barring rules that benefited minorities in the admissions process at the University of Michigan.

The Air Force Academy Preparatory School for the Colorado Springs, Colo.-based academy is the source of 40 percent of the academy’s minority enrollment.

But a statement issued Friday by a division of the Office of the Air Force General Counsel said that the “absence of the language will not impair the ability of each Service Academy to develop and defend its respective diversity policies.”

The Air Force Academy’s superintendent, Lt. Gen. John Regni, recently complained that the proposed Defense Department policy change would hurt minority recruitment.

Academy officials say they need a diverse officers corps to lead an Air Force made up of many ethnic and racial groups.

At issue is a Defense Department directive in 1994 on the operations of the service academies’ prep schools.

“Primary consideration for enrollment shall be accorded to nominees to fill officer accession objectives for minorities, including women, and for those enlisted applicants who, by their professional performance and demonstrated ability, deserve consideration for appointment to an academy,” the directive states.

The statement issued by the National Security and Military Affairs Division of the Office of the Air Force General Counsel notes that the 1994 policy statement “directs preferential treatment without having demonstrated the existence of an academic need that would support such a statement, as the Supreme Court requires.”

But it suggests, without giving any details, that the Air Force Academy can continue to recruit minorities to its prep school as long as the policy is not in writing.

An Air Force spokesman at the Pentagon, Capt. Tom Wenz, declined to comment on the issue. Academy spokesman Johnny Whittaker said the academy had no comment.

The Naval Academy said it continues to seek a diverse officers corps.

“Without having any specific requirements, the desire of the Naval Service, therefore the Naval Academy, is to have its Officer Corps better reflect that of the enlisted forces,” academy spokeswoman Deborah Goode said.

John P. Boyce Jr., an Army spokesman, said that the Army “will work with the U.S. Military Academy and the Defense Department to implement legal rulings dealing with admissions policies while also striving to maintain a cadet-student population that strives to mirror American society as much as possible while recognizing academic excellence and personal abilities.”

According to the 2000 Census, 12.5 percent of the U.S. population was Hispanic, 12.3 percent black, and 3.7 percent Asian-Pacific Islanders.

According to an Army Web site, as of 2003, blacks comprised 12.8 percent of the officer corps in the Army, 7.6 percent in the Navy, 7.3 percent in the Marines and 6.6 percent in the Air Force. They made up 26.2 percent of enlisted personnel in the Army, 20.9 percent in the Navy, 14.1 percent in the Marines and 17.6 percent in the Air Force.

Hispanics comprised 4.9 percent of officers in the Army, 5.1 percent in the Navy, 5.7 percent in the Marines and 3.3 percent in the Air Force. They made up 10.3 percent of enlisted personnel in the Army, 10.2 percent in the Navy, 13.9 percent in the Marines and 6.1 percent in the Air Force.

Asian-Pacific Islanders made up 3.9 percent of the officer corps in the Army, 4.4 percent in the Navy, 2.4 percent in the Marines and 3.2 percent in the Air Force. They represented 3.4 percent of enlisted personnel in the Army, 6.7 percent in the Navy, 2.1 percent in the Marines and 3.4 percent in the Air Force.

Ellie